LAHORE: Pakistan Railways (PR) has refused to connect a recently diverted track to the main line as part of the ongoing Ek Moria Pul Project due to nonpayment of Rs72.421 million by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) after implementing two mega projects on the Canal Road in the past.

Since the issue has delayed completion of the Ek Moria Pul Project, the LDA has asked the government to arrange funds for clearance of the dues, besides requesting the PR to resume the work, enabling the authority to complete the project.

“The LDA had executed the projects – Widening of Canal Bank Road and Chubucha Underpass and Shalimar Interchange at Mughalpura. The projects were executed on railways land and services at the railway crossing near Chubucha Phatak and Lahore Dry Port for which various charges were deposited as demanded by the PR for processing of approvals.

However, due to availability of limited funds during the course of execution of the project, payments amounting to Rs72.421m (Rs24.107m for the construction of Chubucha underpass, Rs23.161m for construction of level crossing class-1 at Mughalpura for Chubucha underpass and Rs25.153m for Shalimar Interchange) were outstanding towards the LDA,” reads a letter the LDA engineering wing recently wrote to the Housing and Public Health Engineering Department.

LDA seeks funds from Punjab government

It states that the project titled ‘Widening of Ek Moria Pull’, funded by the Punjab government, is also presently being executed by the LDA at the railway land/services. Phase-1 of the project, according to the letter, has been completed, while the Phase-II will be started after diverting railway tracks over the newly constructed structure of Phase-1. The diversion work has been completed by the railway engineering staff, it says.

“But now they (the railways) have denied connecting the diversion track to the main line due to non-clearance of the outstanding dues after aforementioned projects executed in the past. Therefore, it is requested that the funds amounting to Rs72.421m may be arranged for clearance of the outstanding dues of the PR, so that the work at the widening of Ek Moria Pul may be taken up on priority for its completion at the earliest in a bid to avert further cost overrun.”

In another letter to the PR chief engineer (open line), the LDA has told the department about its efforts for clearance of the dues and requested it to resume the work.

“The LDA has forwarded a request to the Punjab government for arranging funds for clearance of outstanding dues of the PR for the projects executed by LDA and Tepa in the past,” reads the letter.

It reiterated that issue of clearance of the PR’s dues must be dealt separately, and it should not affect the execution of the Ek Moria Pul

Project for which the complete railway charges were already paid over three years back.

“Shifting of the PR operations at the diversion track may be taken up on a priority so that execution of the Phase-II (Ek Moria) could be started accordingly. A prompt action is requested in this regard as this is a public welfare project and its timely completion is necessary to avoid nuisance faced by the general public,” the letter says.

ARRANGEMENTS: The LDA has completed all administrative, logistic and security arrangements, in collaboration with the local administration and police, for the Prime Minister’s visit to the city on Monday (today) to perform groundbreaking of three mega projects — Sheranwala gate Flyover, Rainwater Management/Harvesting and Shahkam Chowk Flyover, according to an official source.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2021